The New Star

Something New

Ryan Berry breathed deeply as he stood behind the curtains, waiting for his music to start. He was ready for this, he'd been singing this song since he was four and he had first seen it in on TV. But he hadn't been prepared to sing it tonight. He hadn't even been ready to solo tonight, fully expecting to harmonize in the background. He took one more breath and put on his show face. Every eye would be on him. The future of the New Directions depended on this performance. He needed every bit of confidence he could muster. Then he heard his opening note. He pulled the curtain open, and he started to sing.

48 Hours Earlier

"Did everyone know about this but me?" Ryan asked Kurt on the way back to the choir room. The group had just decided on their set list: They would be singing Don't Stop Believing, Proud Mary in wheelchairs, and Mercedes would sing And I'm Telling You as a solo. Of the three, Ryan only truly approved of the first one, even if Finn would be singing lead. Although he admitted that if rehearsal was anything to go by, Mercedes would kill the solo at sectionals. Singing a song in wheelchairs was just a logistical pain, no offense meant to Artie. Ryan was confident that they'd be able to win though, after all, the Haverbrook and Jane Addams glee clubs weren't as good as the New Directions were.

"Yes," he replied. "It's because you're a blabbermouth," he added, before Ryan could open his mouth.

Ryan rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't have told anyone that Puck and not Finn was the father of Quinn's baby! It would ruin the dynamic of our team, and then we'd never win Sectionals, and then we'd lose the glee club, and I need the glee club!" Plus Quinn would be really mad at me.

"Of course you'd make this about yourself," Kurt deadpanned.

"Ok, so maybe that was insensitive," Ryan admitted. "But it's true!" They walked along the hall for another minute before he added, "I knew Finn was dumb, but I didn't think even he was stupid enough to believe he could get someone pregnant by hot tub. I can't believe you used to like him."

Kurt was saved from having to answer by the sight of Finn sitting on top of Puck in the choir room, whaling on his face repeatedly with the rest of the New Directions watching in fascinated horror. Mr. Schuester rushed in a few seconds later with Miss Pillsbury, quickly pulling Finn off of Puck. "That's enough! What happened here?"

Finn was fighting against Mike Chang and Matt Rutherford, who were trying to hold him back from Puck.

"Finn just walked up here and sucker-punched me!" Puck yelled.

"Don't play dumb, you're too freaking dumb to play dumb!" roared Finn.

"Who told you, Finn?" Quinn asked tearfully.

"I'd say Ryan, but he's been with me since he found out, which was like 15 minutes ago," Kurt said. Ryan glared at him.

"I heard Mercedes on the phone," Finn said, breathing deeply.

Mr. Schue stepped in, "Finn, just calm down – "

"No, they're both lying to me! I want to hear it from both of you. Is it true?" Finn demanded. "Just tell me, is it true?"

Ryan did feel sorry for Finn, but he supposed he understood why she did it. After all, Puck did have that whole bad boy rep, and he had gotten Quinn drunk, which was why they were in the whole mess in the first place. Of course, he might just be biased. He'd had a crush on the head cheerleader for a while now, but he knew perfectly well that she'd never look at a loser like him. Also, he didn't particularly like Finn. While he'd never slushied any of them, he never did anything to stop the other players. Ryan knew for a fact that Finn had sometimes watched the other football players throw Kurt, and sometimes Ryan himself, into the dumpsters before school some days.

Quinn stepped forward. "Yes," she cried. "Puck is the father."

"So…so all that stuff about the hot tub… you were just lying to me?"

"You were the one stupid enough to buy it!" Puck snarled, making Finn lunge at him only to be stopped by Mr. Schue.

"I am so sorry!" Quinn cried.

"Screw this. I'm done with you!" he yelled at Quinn. "I'm done with all of you!" He left the room, kicking over a chair as he went. Quinn soon followed.

The remaining glee members looked at each other. This left them with 11 glee club members, one short of the 12 members needed to compete at Sectionals. Deep down, Ryan was selfishly happy at this turn of events, since it meant that he would be getting Finn's solo in Don't Stop Believing. He wasn't stupid enough to show his pleasure to the other members though. Instead, he pointed out that they needed a replacement member, if only just to sway in the back. Then he exited the choir room and went after Quinn.

"Are you ok?" Ryan asked when he found the former cheerleader sitting on a bench in the wall opposite the trophy case. Quinn simply looked at him. "Right. Stupid question."

He started to leave when her voice stopped him. "I have hurt so many people. I don't even know how to fix this."

Ryan looked at her. "If you ever need to talk, no strings attached, you can talk to me," he said seriously.

"Why would you do that?" Quinn asked quietly. "I was horrible to you."

Yes you were. He'd never say that out loud though. "I just thought you might need a friend."

"Thank you," she replied sincerely. "Can you go now? I just really want to be alone."

Ryan nodded and left.